Ageing in Asia, societal and family support

One of the main characteristics of the undeveloped and developing countries is their population youth. In other word about 40% of the total population in these countries is people aged 15 and less. In long time this situation may have negative impacts on the development plans in these countries. There is a meaningful relation between age structure of population and the level of development in countries. In developed countries the portion of people aged 0-14 years to the total population is less than 20% but this figure in some developing and undeveloped countries is about 40%. The results of the National Housing and population Censuses in Iran in 1986 and 1996 show that Iran as a developing country had a young population. In this paper by using economic, social, and cultural indices the levels of developing of 31 provinces in Iran are measured. By considering the index of population youth in the provinces we can discuss the relation existing between level of development and population youth in the provinces. By using economic, social, and cultural indices and Topsis method the level of development in the provinces is measured and the population youth weight is determined by using Wertheim Test.

Keywords: Development index, Province, People youth,

Data from the 2007 Philippine Longitudinal Study on Aging (PLSOA) show at least 15 percent of older Filipinos have some level of functional disability. Functional disability measured in terms of activities of daily living (ADL) was found to be increasing with advancing age and is higher among the females than males. On the average, those who experienced some form of functional disability reported an average of 3 ADL difficulties. Among the seven ADL activities examined, older people found it most difficult standing up or sitting down and going outside/leaving the house while eating was found to be least strenuous. Our findings show various levels of severity and need of assistance among those who found difficult in performing any of the ADL tasks.

Generally, older Filipinos receive significant amount of monetary and non-monetary support from their family. This includes remittances from children from abroad. Support for older people is manifested in their living arrangements with most of the older person found to be coresiding with their children.

Study findings point to a strong association between functional health status and the level of family support received by older people. Particularly, significantly more support is provided to those who experience functional difficulty.

Industrialization, urbanization and globalization have not only eroded the traditional status and decision making power of the elderly but they have also brought a number of problems before
the elderly. Today, they are facing a number of problems such as abuse, maltreatment, mental and physical torture and heedless ignominy from the family and society. These problems have affected the way of life and sense of well being of the elderly to a large extent from society as well as family. Consequently, fear of crime is being recognized as an emerging social problem among the elderly. The paper explores the impact of the social determinants in the rising of fear of crime among the elderly. The paper also identifies the victim offender relationship. Secondary data have been collected from news papers (Amar Ujala, Dainik Jagran New Delhi, Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand Edition). These news items have been collected from April 2012 to August 2012. The news items relating to crimes against the elderly have been systematically collected and their content have been analyzed. Findings have shown that a number of elderly have murdered and victimized due to property.

India lacks adequate social security and institutional set up to support the growing proportion and number of aged population. Therefore, family and relatives continue to provide support to the health and well being of the elderly. This paper attempts to examine differential in treatment seeking and the factors responsible for such differential among the elderly from similar economic group but with different living arrangements using NSSO 60th round (25.0 sob-round) data. Gini concentration index has been used to find out the intra-economic group inequality in treatment seeking due to living arrangement. Decomposition analysis has been done to find out the importance of living arrangement and other factors of treatment seeking behaviour. Treatment seeking is highest among elderly living with spouse and other members and lowest among those live alone or with non-relatives. Sex and economic dependency do not play significant role in treatment seeking behaviour in middle and high MPCE households.

Vietnam is experiencing an increase in the share of the elderly population (people aged 60 and over) and profound social and economic changes at the same time. Co-residence with children is the traditional means of support for the elderly. Given the minimal coverage of formal care, concern has been voiced that the increasing old age dependency ratio and the strong flow of rural-urban labour migration among younger adults will threaten the viability of the traditional support system for the elderly. By analysing the secondary data of Vietnam (Housing) Living Standard Survey (VHLSS 1992-2010), Vietnam National Aging Survey 2011, and qualitative case study data, this paper aims to describe different living arrangements of the elderly and how these patterns have been shaped by the changing conditions.
The preliminary results show that while the majority of elderly live with children, this type of family support is changing. Elderly living alone or with their spouse only is increasing. Quasi-co-residence, rotation residence, or living with grandchildren can be regarded as coping mechanisms to maintain inter-generational support under changing conditions. Living in private or state institution covers only small proportion of the richest and poorest sections of the elderly population.

India being at the stage of demographic and development transition is faced with challenges of reaping the advantage of demographic dividend and provide an economically secured life to its older population. The joint family system, a unique feature of our glorious heritage is disintegrating fast making elderly economically and socially vulnerable. The present study aims at critical assessment of government old age plans and policies using Meta analysis. The study reflected the existence of old age plans and policies since decades which have been revised appropriately to take care of the inflation. Policies such as NPOP, OASIS etc have been framed keeping in mind the vulnerable sections such as widows, destitute, unorganized workers but the question arises whether the amount of help offered is sufficient for them. The study reflected that government efforts have indeed brought a difference to their lives but assuming their full fledged responsibility is difficult. Pension is one of the largest components of state expenditures which is likely to increase making it unsustainable in long run. Therefore, individuals should be encouraged to contribute towards a self financed old age income security to ensure a life of dignity though not of luxury in old age

Present study makes an attempt to unearth the changing pattern of living arrangement for elderly and explores the socio-demographic and compositional factors contributing to this. Using information on age, sex, relationship to the head, household structure and living arrangement is being calculated from the three rounds of Demographic Health Surveys. Findings reveal that percentage of nuclear household has increased from 55.7 in 1992 to 64.9 in 2005. The increase is decomposed and it is found that change in propensity to live in nuclear household has the major contribution (53%) to this increase, propensity change by age (32%) and region (19%) has shown the largest contribution to the increase.Compositional change due to population ageing (14%), education (14%) and urbanization (7%) have encouraged to this increase most. Larger increase in adjusted percentage of elderly living alone is found among southern India (4.4%), lower affluent level(3.5%), female and not educated elderly. Similarly, higher increase in elderly living with spouse only is observed among southern, male and rural elderly. Study concludes though, India has still strong co-residence system but this system of living arrangement is undergoing rapid transition towards nuclear households which is alarming and should be concern for policy for graying population.

The number of Filipinos ages 60 and over is expected to increase from 6.8 million in 2010 to almost 10 million in 2020. However, previous studies indicate that the projected expansion in the size of the Filipino older population could also mean a corresponding increase in the number of persons with disability. In light of this projected scenario are there enough provisions, especially health insurance, to meet their future demands for health care?

Using the 2008 National Demographic Health Survey, this study aims to: a) present the characteristics of Filipino older persons covered by any health insurance system to identify which segment of this population should be targeted in the expansion of health insurance coverage; and b) examine the role of health insurance coverage in the health care utilization of older persons in the Philippines.

Preliminary results reveal that less than half (45.8%) of Filipino older persons are covered by health insurance, most common of which is the PhilHealth (35.7%). Coverage is higher among men, those who are younger, and those who are better educated and wealthier. Among those who were hospitalized in the past year significant proportion relies on health insurance, especially PhilHealth (41%), to cover their medical expenses.

With the acceleration of population ageing in China, a large elderly widowed group is emerging. This article analyses the proportion of elderly widowhood amongst the Chinese elderly population by using the census data for 1990 and 2000 and measures the widowhood index amongst the elderly population on the basis of China’s life tables. The study has found that the probability of elderly male widowhood is 0.35, and the figure for elderly female widowhood is 0.65. An average marriage lasts 43.45 years. After being widowed, men live for another 11.60 more years, whilst women another 15.57 years. The age difference between husband and wife has a relatively big impact on the widowhood index. The index is also markedly different between cities and rural areas. Although the life expectancy amongst the rural population is relatively low, they also have the shortest married life and the youngest widowhood age. However, they tend to live more years after they are widowed. The findings in this article can provide references for policy making for the elderly.

Declining mortality and fertility has resulted in a proportionate increase in old age (60+) population in rural India, largely characterized by limited economic resources, poor health status and inadequate use of health facilities that heightens their vulnerability to various ill-health outcomes. Using data from 60th round of National Sample Survey (NSSO-2004), we examine the socio-economic differentials in self-reported ailments among rural elderly population. Employing Verbruse and Jette’s (1994) Disability Framework, we test the association between socio-economic inequalities and selected health outcomes- active pathology, impairment, functional limitation and disability. Result shows that elderly from richest, rich and middle quintiles were more likely to report various health ailments than the poorest one. Economic inequalities were largest in functional limitation followed by disability. Age advancement has a profound impact on physical impairment, which could be explained by the living arrangement and working status of the elderly. Therefore, in order to ensure healthy aging, there is an urgent to establish equitable old age security schemes providing physical, social as-well-as economic support to the elderly population, particularly among economically disadvantageous groups in rural India.